Once upon a Starship
by As the cherry blossom falls
Summary: Andromeda rescues distressed ship and Harper gets people into a messy situation


Girls! Beautiful girls everywhere! Some played volleyball further down the beach while a few were swimming in the ocean. This must be paradise, he thought. One particularly beautiful blonde was walking straight towards him. 

"Harper?" she said in a familiar voice.

"Huh? " Harper was totally confused. " Isn't that …"

"Harper! Wake up" shouted Andromeda, trying to wake him out of his deep sleep. Oh how she wished her avatar was here so she could just shake him awake!

"HARPER! Get up! We need you in command straight away."

"Alright, alright! I'm up now. Don't have a cow!" he muttered, stumbling on some empty sparky cans as he got out of bed, still tired and grumpy.

" What? A cow? What are you on about Harper?"

" Doesn't matter…." He definitely wasn't in the mood for explaining right now "…just gimme a moment to get some pants on, if you don't mind." 

And with that Andromeda was gone.  Harper was well used to this now. He rarely got a full nights sleep, mainly napping during the day and usually in the machine shop over his latest piece of genius. 

Within a couple of minutes he was ready and darted out the door, heading for command. Everyone except Trance was already there.

"What's the problem boss?" he asked Dylan, a great captain albeit a slightly headstrong one.

"I need you to prep the Docking bay for rescue Mister Harper. A ship just hailed asking if we could help them. They say they were boarded a couple of hours ago by some Nietszchiens and quite a few of them are injured." Dylan said in his usual 'I'm the captain, so obey me' tone.

"Aw boss! Why do I have to go greet them. Can't Trance do it? She's better at it than me anyway."

Dylan wasn't in the greatest mood to argue with Harper. The Nietszchiens could still be nearby and he didn't want to stay around and find out. "No Harper, Trance can't do it cause she's preparing the med deck. Now GO!" Yelling the last word right in Harper's face.

"Ok, ok. I'm going, I'm on my way." He muttered as he ran out the door on his way to the docking bay. Ugh, he wasn't exactly ecstatic about meeting this crew they were rescuing. He had a bit of a problem meeting new species, never knowing what to say to them. And he knew he had quite a knack for offending people, even though he tried his hardest to say something nice. 

Turning a corner he saw the airlock to the docking bay and waited a minute for a signal that the docking bay doors had closed and he could go in. Once inside he grabbed a couple of stretchers that were near the door and ran with them to the far end of the bay where the new ship had just landed. He noticed that the ship wasn't that high-tech. In fact, it was positively low-tech! It had taken a lot of damage, he was surprised it hadn't blown up already. 

A door suddenly opened on the starboard side of the ship and a ramp extended itself to the ground. 'Well here goes' he thought as he pushed the stretchers to the ramp. 'I hope they don't have three heads!'

Chapter two

It was only moments before a man appeared holding a little girl in his arms. She was bleeding heavily from a deep cut in her leg.

 " Oh thank the divine you were here! Some of us are really hurt. My daughter needs your help!"

 He rushed down the ramp and placed her on the stretcher. At that moment Trance came running up with two more stretchers and some bots to help the walking wounded. 

"It's alright sir. My name is Trance, I'll take her straight up to med deck now. She'll be ok. This is Harper, he'll help with the rest of your crew. I'll see you soon sir." She ran off at speed with the little girl on the stretcher. 

Harper realised he hadn't said anything yet, he'd been so shocked at the little girls condition. 

" Uh, hi!" he stammered " Um, like she said I'm Harper. Is there anyone else who needs help?"

"Yes, a couple more. I need your help to get them though, follow me." The man started running up the ramp and into the ship so Harper followed suit and started running after him.

"Wow!" The ship was completely different inside, it looked like the corridors of Andromeda. Unfortunately though, the ship had been hit hard by the Nietszchien attack. Wires hung down from the ceiling and some of the wall covers had fallen off.  Harper ran a fast as he could round the various obstacles. 

As they rounded another corner he saw how badly they needed Andromeda's help. There were at least 8 people lying on the ground with various injuries, some not requiring immediate medical attention. However, he spotted another child lying against the wall crying out for his mom while clutching his side. He didn't have a good feeling about this. 

He ran straight for the little boy and knelt down in front of him. " Hey little man," he said, mustering the nicest voice he could " can you tell me where it hurts?"

" My side! Owwww ! It hurts…I want my mooooommmmyyyy!" The little boy was crying so much that his shirt was already soaking, unfortunately with tears and with blood too.

"Ok, were gonna take you straight to the medical deck and you'll be feeling great in no time." He picked him up as gently as he could, trying not to cause the boy more pain than he was already in. 

"I'm gonna take this boy to the same place as your daughter." He shouted over to the man, who was tending to another boy, this one a teenager. " I'll be back in a minute to help you with the others!"

"OK." Shouted back the man. "Be quick." He paused a moment "Please…."

" Don't worry." Harper tried to sound as reassuring as he could at this moment in time.

And with that he ran off down the corridor and out of the ship. He placed the little boy on a stretcher and started off at a sprint towards the med deck. All the way, the boy cried for his mommy, but by the time they reached the med deck, he was so quiet, Harper could hardly hear him. 

"Trance!" He burst through the door, calling to Trance who was tending to the little girl. 

"Trance! I think this little boy's dying!" 

Trance was there in a second " I think you might be right Harper. Help me staunch this blood while I inject some nano-bots to clot it." She thrust some wadding and bandages into his hand and put it firmly onto the gash in the boy's side. He hoped that this was working. He could feel the blood seeping through the bandages already. The boy's face was glistening with sweat and he looked like he was in so much pain.

" Okay Harper. I'll hold this while you get me a cooling strip." Trance looked very confident, the complete opposite of what Harper was very sure he looked like right now. 

"You sure Trance" Harper thought this wasn't the time for a little insignificant cooling strip. 

" YES Harper. Now please!" She sounded so impatient, he thought he'd better do what she said.

He only had his back to them for a couple of seconds but when he turned back to the boy and Trance, the boy looked calmer and the gash in his side didn't look half as bad. At least it had stopped bleeding. He looked at Trance inquiringly.

"The nano-bots must work fast." She said with a shrug and an innocent face

He highly doubted that was the reason the boy had recovered so quickly but he knew better than to question Trance. 

" Is it ok for me to go help the others? Do you need more help?"

Trance had already turned away to look at the other child's vital signs. " The children will be fine Harper. I'm okay for help now" she gestured towards a bot without even looking at him.

"Okay then …Trance babe. See ya soon."

With one last look at Trance, he turned away and ran out the door as fast as he could to the docking bay.

Chapter 3

Harper had spent the rest of the afternoon bringing the other wounded people to the med deck and looking after some of the other kids who hadn't been hurt before returning to command to talk over the situation with the rest of the crew.

They were all there before him, as usual. Beka and Tyr were standing by the weapons controls while Trance and Rommie were talking about one of the patient's vitals. Dylan was looking at one of the star maps when Harper walked in and noticing everyone was there, he walked over to them.

"Right, What shall we do about these refugees."

"Well where are they from?" Beka asked.

Dylan smiled at this and looked at Harper " You should like this Mister Harper. They're from Earth. They left around the same time you did."

Harper was ecstatic at the thought of some people he could talk to who were just like him. " Really? Are you serious? Wow! I can't wait to talk to all of them!"

" Calm down now. If there I any talking to do at the moment, it'll be me doing it. They've been through a tough time, what with the attack and all. You can talk to them in a couple of days." Dylan was always like this. Didn't think Harper was capable of responsibility outside the machine shop. He was probably right.

Rommie was the first to suggest a good idea "Why don't you talk to the ships captain and first officer and find out exactly what happened, Dylan?"

"Great idea Rommie, you, me and Beka will go down now. Trance? I'd like you to stay with the patient in med deck. Just incase." Dylan was already out the door, when he turned back to Harper, "and I'd like you to adjust the scanners so we can see further. I have a feeling these Nietszceins might come back." Not waiting for an answer, Dylan turned round and walked out the door with Beka and Rommie in tow.

As the doors to command slid shut, Harper walked over to Trance. He wanted to know what she had done to the little boy to make him so much better.

"I told you already, I injected nano-bots." She said, and like typical Trance, she left before Harper could ask anymore questions. He sighed, Trance could be so difficult to understand sometimes. 

"What are you sighing about boy?" came a voice right behind him, causing Harper to jump like a rabbit in fright.

"TYR, what do you think you are doing sneaking up on me!" Tyr had this effect on him quite a lot, being quite adept at sneaking around. 

"I wasn't sneaking boy, just merely quiet."

"Well, uh, don't do it again. Stupid niet..,…mumble…doesn't know….mumble. humph." Harper set straight to work on adjusting the long range scanner, mumbling all the time in a frustrated manner.

With a tiny smile only a Neitzchien could see, Tyr left Harper to work while he went to see if Trance could use any help.

Ten minutes later, Harper was really into his work . So when the command doors swished open again, he was really irritated at the interruption. 

He turned round and yelled  "TYR, I told you to LEAVE ME ALO…..oh hello?"

Chapter 4

"Oh hello?" Harper was stunned. There in the doorway was the most beautiful girl he'd seen in a long time. She had long black hair and the biggest, most iridescent green eyes he had ever seen. He was speechless for once.

She looked clearly embarressed " Oh whoops, I take it this isn't the Medical Deck then, I'm so sorry for disturbing you." She moved to turn away,  

"WAIT. Uh, I'll take you up if you want, it's not far." He didn't want to let this one get away from him. He jumped up quickly and wiped his dirty hands on his jeans. 

"Hi! I'm Harper." He held out his marginally cleaner hand and smiled what he hoped to the divine was a sexy smile.

She took his hand and shook it firmly, looking happy at having found someone friendly. " I'm Leoni. Are you sure your not too busy? I can just ask a bot to lead me there."

He pretended to look shocked " Of course not. I can't let a beautiful girl like you run around without someone to look after you!" He mentally slapped himself for being so stupid.

Luckily, she laughed, not seeming to care that Harper had just hit on her, rather clumsily. "Alright then, lead the way young sir!" 

"Follow me my lady!" He held out his arm in a gentlemanly manner and she took it just like a lady. Both of them strode out of command and down the corridor laughing at themselves. 

"Thank you for being so friendly. We've had a tough time recently." The girl looked to the ground with so much sadness in her eyes that it was all Harper could do to stop himself stroking her hair. 

"Hey, don't worry. You're safe now. Nothing bad can happen to you on the Andromeda. She's the best warship in the universe! Well here we are, the medical deck my lady" He gave her a clumsy bow, which instantly cheered her up. 

She looked at her feet for a moment before looking straight into Harper's eyes, "I hope I'll see you again." Then she turned around and walked into the Medical deck and over to Trance.

Harper started walking back to command. He felt like he was floating on air, knowing how corny that sounded in his head. He hoped Leoni, thought about him the same way. He hadn't been with a girl in a long time, both sexually and in a relationship. He knew he had fallen for her the second he had stepped into his life. 

What he didn't notice was Trance's look at him when he left medical deck. She had seen the way Harper had looked at the girl and she didn't like it. Yes she was jealous, but she was also very good at reading body language. What worried her was that the girl might have acted as if she liked him, but Trance could sense that she had a hidden agenda. Trance just couldn't figure out what it was. She hoped she was just being paranoid, but really she knew she was right.

Chapter five

Harper had just finished adjusting the scanner when the rest of the crew entered the command deck. Dylan and Beka didn't look very happy form what Harper could see, so he thought it best to see what they wanted straight away.

"Hey boss! What did you find out then? Nothing good from what I see." Harper felt uneasy. It wasn't often that Dylan looked worried. Unfortunately, now was one of those times.

"Well the crew of the other ship didn't have much warning before they were attacked. They didn't even have time to charge their weapons before they were boarded. The Nietszcheins kind off appeared from nowhere according to the captain. I don't like the sound of this. They could turn up at any time and attack our ship. I hate it when we have to fight an invisible enemy."

That worried look was on Dylan's face again, unnerving the rest of the crew as well. Here was their amazing captain, afraid.

Beka was first to speak, " Well no-one fights fair anymore Dylan. Even you should have figured that out by now. So……what do we do? Run?"

"No, you should know that I don't run away from my fights." Dylan was more confident now. He knew his crew would be behind him no matter what. Even though Beka argued with him about his decisions from time to time. " No. We'll stay. This is the Andromeda, we are more than a match for a Nietszchien ship. I have a feeling they'll be back."

Suddenly, Trance piped up from the corner where she was standing, "From what you've said Dylan, I think that someone on the other ship might know more than we think."

"What makes you say that?" Everyone was puzzled by Trance's statement. 

"Just a feeling…" Trance's feeling were usually right, so Dylan thought it was best to act on them. "Right, everyone be on alert. If anyone is acting suspiciously, maybe being somewhere they shouldn't be, tell me."

Everyone nodded agreement to Dylan and set off to roam the corridors for suspicious people. Only Dylan and Trance were left when Dylan spoke up " I have a feeling too. I think you may know who it is already. Am I right?" He looked inquiringly at Trance.

"Maybe." She said, walking out of command without another word.

Dylan was confident that Trance would find whoever was betraying the other ship and possibly his ship too. It was times like these that he was grateful she was part of his crew.

Chapter 6

'If  I find out who betrayed that ship and caused those kids to be injured, I'll personally kill them!'

Harper was thinking to himself as he headed for the machine shop to do some repairs for the other ship. Having a terrible childhood himself, Harper knew how those kids felt. It just wasn't right for a kid to be in that much pain. He was so fired up that he didn't notice Leoni standing outside the machine shop door until it was too late. 

"Ooof!" They both went down like a ton of bricks to the floor. 

"Sorry Leoni, didn't see you there! Are you ok?" Harper asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. Well I will be when you get off me!" He hadn't noticed that he was till lying on top of Leoni and quickly pushed himself off. He helped her to her feet, a little embarrassed " Oh, I'm so sorry, Oh God, Um, you ok then? Oh I'm soooo sorry." 

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry your pretty little head. I was just looking for you as it is." She gave him a cheeky smile and a sexy little wink, sending Harper slightly crazy, "Me??? Uhhhhhh…….ummmmmm……….me?" 

"Yes you silly. You're the nicest person I've met here. I told you last time I'd see you again. I believe in keeping my promises."

Me too, thought Harper. He was even more determined to find the traitor, it could impress Leoni, maybe even make her fall for him. The divine knew that he had fallen for her already.

"Well, do you want a tour of my secret haven? It's not much, but I love it. I spend most of my time here. Look at this…….." He spent the next twenty minutes showing Leoni  his latest gadgets and gizmos.

"You're a genius!" she said, sounding genuinely excited. 

 "Yeah I've been telling people that for years…………." He suddenly realised they were standing very close to each other and being the man he was, he started to feel a little flustered. "You know, your really very beautiful Leoni." There, he'd finally got out what he'd wanted to say for the past three days. Though now, he didn't have the courage to look her in the face. Instead he started to fiddle with some spare pieces of wire. 

Just then he felt her touch his face, and she ever so gently brought him round to face her. 

"You know Harper, you're the most gorgeous, intelligent and funny man I've ever met…" and before he knew it, she was kissing him. Not very hard, but so passionately that he felt himself go weak at the knees.

He didn't know how long they kissed for, but when she stopped, he knew it hadn't been long enough. Then without a word but still looking into his eyes, she left.

"Wow!" he paused, then sank into a chair, " WOW!"

He sat there for a while, before leaving to go to hydroponics to tell Trance what had just happened. She'll never believe me, he thought as he walked down the corridor with a new spring in his step.

What he didn't know was that someone was watching him as he left. They had been sitting in one of the access panels, and waited till he had gone before they went into the machine shop.

Chapter seven

"Yuh huh!"

"Never Harper"

"I said YUH HUH!" Harper was soo annoyed. Trance just wouldn't believe that any girl, let alone Leoni, would kiss him. "You can ask Rommie. She'll have seen it!"

Trance gave a sigh of defeat, " Alright. I believe you. But am I supposed to believe she was there to see you?" She gave him a disbelieving look. 

"What do you mean? Why else would she be there if not to see the Great Harper?" He gasped, " You think SHE'S the traitor don't you? How could you Trance!" He looked at her with so much pain in his eyes that Trance regretted it already. She didn't want to hurt him, she loved him too much.

"You have NO proof that it's her, and she has no motive. She's been upset badly by the whole experience. I thought you knew better than to throw around accusations without ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE!" He yelled right into her face, his face screwed up in anger, before storming out of hydroponics to go to his quarters. 

Trance slid to the floor and started crying. The sad thing was that she did have some incriminating evidence, she just couldn't bring herself to show him. 

In her hands was an X-ray flexi. It was of Leoni. She had secretly taken it when Leoni had come to the medical deck the day before looking for something for a headache. This X-ray showed her arm particularly, and what was strange about it was the three scars on the bone in her lower arm. The same positions as the bone blades on a Nietszchien.  

Trance wiped her eyes and stood up. She had to find out why there was a Nietszchien on a ship full of humans and why she didn't want to be recognised. If not for the ship, then for Harper. Yes, he was her best friend, but ever since she had seen him, she had held a special place for him in her heart. He loved him. If only she could SAY it. Then she wouldn't have to hide her feelings anymore.

"Andromeda?" Trance asked the air, hoping to get an answer.

" Yes Trance?" A hologram of the ships AI appeared before her, ready to help.

"I wonder if you could transfer some files to my monitor?" Trance inquired.

"Depends what they are."

" Could I see some security recording for outside the machine shop, for say, the past few hours." Trance tried to sound as casual as she could.

"Of course. Sending them now. What do you want them for?" 

" Just have a hunch that's all. Private mode please" She said before turning to her monitor.

Andromeda knew she wouldn't get anymore answers out of Trance. She trusted her though. Knew that whatever Trance was doing, that it was for the good of the crew. So she disappeared to give Trance some space.

Trance didn't have to wait long before she found what she had been looking for. 

Chapter eight

Now she had all the evidence she needed. She could finally accuse Leoni of being a traitor. This time Harper would have to believe her. 

The footage showed Leoni about to enter the machine shop when Harper turned up. After a few minutes, and that wretched kiss, the both of them left. However, just second later, Leoni was back. She entered the machine shop and once inside, started rooting around in the drawers and cupboards, obviously looking for something. After a minute she got to a cupboard that was locked. Not a problem for Leoni apparently, as she withdrew a pick and opened the door in a matter of seconds.

"There, you little Bitch! That is a crime. I'll get you put away." Trance was on a high. Now she could convince everyone that Leoni was a traitor. 

Leoni left a few minutes later with schematics of the Andromeda. Trance shut off the program and ran out the door. She ran as fast and as hard as she could to the Machine shop. She had to show Harper.

She ran into the room and grabbed Harper and without a word dragged him after her.

"What are you doing Trance? Let go of me!" Man, she was stronger than he thought! What did she want with him?

They didn't stop running till they got back to Hydroponics, where Trance let go of Harper and ran to her monitor. Harper immediately started rubbing his sore wrist. 

"What is your problem?"   

Trance stared at him with a look of certainty in her eyes that she actually scared him.

"I got footage of Leoni going into the machine shop and stealing." Simple as that. Best to get it out in the open.

"What? Leoni was in there with me and she did NOT steal anything." Harper was indignant.

" She went in the seconds after you left and stole them. I have footage!" He just had to believe her.

"Right, Show me then." Harper came over to the screen and folded his arms, staring at her.

" Ok then."  She pressed one of the buttons on the screen. But something was wrong. Nothing came up. She searched the data base and the words on the screen crushed her completely;

://FILE DOES NOT EXIST//:

"NO! This isn't happening, something's wrong! It has to be here!" Trance searched the database again but the same thing kept happening;

://FILE DOES NOT EXIST//:

://FILE DOES NOT EXIST//:

://FILE DOES NOT EXIST//:

"Give it up Trance, there is no footage. Is there?" Harper started to leave,

"Oh no! The little bitch must have deleted them! Andromeda? Did anyone come into this room in the last few minutes?"

Andromeda's face appeared on the screen, " Sorry Trance, but you requested Private mode."

Trance looked pleadingly at Harper, but before she could say anything, he started yelling at her.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? Why can't you let me be happy? Are you jealous, is that it? Leoni wouldn't do that to me, to any of us. I never want to speak to you again! We are THROUGH being friends!"

Chapter nine

Harper stormed out, leaving a distraught Trance. She was even more determined now to prove her point. What distressed her though was that Leoni knew Trance was on to her. She had to go confront her. Now!

She made her way towards the docking bay. Harper wasn't known for bearing grudges, but he had been so hurt when he shouted at her. And it really hurt her to know she was the one to cause his hurt. She had hurt him too many times in past few days when she had accused Leoni. It had to stop once and for all. The only way to do that was to confront her and beat her.

Suddenly the walls shook and Trance fell to the floor. They'd been hit! Trance had no doubt in her mind that it had been the Nietzcheins. Helped along by those schematics Leoni had given them. She didn't have much time, she had to get to Leoni.

She sensed someone behind her, just before she felt someone bring a hard object down on her back. 

"Argh!" she fell onto the floor but quickly turned over. She saw Leoni about to take another swing at her, but Trance was quicker than that, in seconds she was up and behind Leoni. She wrapped her tail round the girl's neck and lifted her off the floor, holding her up against a wall. " I'm on to you. I know you're the traitor and I'm gonna prove it. I won't let you use Harper." She swung the girl hard into the other wall.

At that moment, Harper came round the corner and saw Leoni pinned against the wall by Trance.

"Leoni! What the fuck do you think your doing Trance?!?!" He ran into Trance and tackled her to the ground. He sat on top of her, pinning her arms to the ground.

" You've gone crazy Trance!" What he didn't see was Leoni come up behind him to hit him on his head with a force lance. He fell into a slump beside Trance.

Leoni stared at her with an evil smile and with rage burning in her eyes "I don't want to kill him. He's been very nice to me, you on the other hand… " She picked up Harper's force lance, charged it and pointed it at Trance's head. Trance's tail was quick though. She grabbed the force lance with it and used all her might to whack Leoni in the head. The girl fell to the floor with a thump, a trickle of blood running from her head. Trance flopped back onto her back. She could hear Tyr and Dylan running down the corridor, shouting to Trance. She didn't answer, all she could think was, It's over. It's over

"It's over." She whispered to herself.

Chapter Ten

Girls! Everywhere! Some where swimming in a pool, while some fanned him with palm leaves and fed him grapes. 

"Harper? Wake up!"

What it was a dream? Aw not again…….

He opened his eyes slowly and saw a familiar ceiling. He groaned, it was the med deck ceiling. 

"Hello there sleepy head!" said Trance in her usual cheery tone, "You've been asleep for hours. Must have been a fair whack to the head."

Oh.

He remembered now. 

Leoni.

She had hit over the head. Had hurt him. 

Trance had been right all along. He should have listened to her.

"I should have listened to you. I'm sorry Trance." He pleaded, wanting her forgiveness.

" Oh it's ok. The important thing is that your ok." She turned away from him to look at his vitals when Harper suddenly remembered all the hurtful things he had said to her. He groaned again,

" Aw God Trance, I'm so sorry I said those things to you. I regret them now, and I never want to say them again, I love you……." He realised what he had jut said and gave himself another mental slap.

Trance had noticed too. But instead of the laugh he was expecting, she looked at him. And kissed him. 

This kiss took him depths of his soul that he had never been to before. He felt alive and that he could do anything. 

When they broke apart, Harper was speechless. Which was good for Trance, because she needed to speak to him.

"I love you too Harper. Always have and always will. I'll do anything for you. I'll fight for you and I'll even die for you if that is what it comes to. You are all I've ever wanted and you're all I'll ever need. Please, do you feel the same way about me?" She looked at him with true love in her eyes, hoping to see the same in his.

"Yeah, sure I do, but you took all the good words!" He grinned at her in the way that made her heart flip. She playfully swatted him as he pulled her in to kiss him again.

This is paradise, they both thought blissfully.

The End


End file.
